Can you guys stop complaining about the Benedict Cumberbatch coverage? It’s really simple – this is a gossip site and we’re gossiping about a celebrity that SOME of us want to discuss. If you don’t like that celebrity and you don’t want to talk about him, why even click on the post? I’m at a loss. Anyway, at this point it’s not even like I’m actively trying to cover Cumberbatch so much. There are just so many new stories about him and his projects and his maybe dating life and stuff. We cover gossip. There’s a lot of gossip about Cumberbatch these days. So if you don’t want to read about it… don’t. *waits patiently*

Okay, now it should only be people who actively want to gossip and discuss The Batch. First up, the first teaser for Sherlock Season 3 has been released and I swear to the almighty Mycroft Holmes, it gave me goosebumps. It’s just that amazing theme music and his shadow in the doorway and Watson with an unfortunate mustache (Sherlock is going to have something to say about that mustache) and the CUMBY CURLS and and and…!!!!!!!

*squeals, passes out*

Benedict is also featured in Entertainment Weekly’s “New Hollywood” issue, the one with my girl Mindy Kaling on the cover. Here’s Benedict’s piece:

He is Hollywood’s most wanted man. Benedict Cumberbatch, the brainy British actor with the deep baritone, is best known as the acid-tongued genius of Baker Street on the BBC series Sherlock (more on that in a second). But this summer he raised his profile with his smoldering version of Khan, the most infamous villain in the Starfleet universe, in Star Trek Into Darkness. Now, the 37-year-old is about to have the busiest fall of his career, playing WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in The Fifth Estate (Oct. 18), a plantation owner in 12 Years a Slave (Oct. 18), the titular dragon in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Dec. 13), and Meryl Streep’s nephew in August: Osage County (Dec. 25). It’s for those reasons—and more—that he was a perfect fit for our New Hollywood package.

With The Fifth Estate, Cumberbatch travels into strange new territory: the modern world as we know it. “It’s the first role I’ve had where I am portraying a real person as they go through events that have occurred since I’ve been alive,” he says. “And that does change the dynamic [of playing the part]. With Assange, it’s a story that is going on in the world beyond our movie, which is new for me and extraordinary, quite honestly. There’s a different energy there.”

As for a more familiar energy, Cumberbatch is currently shooting the third season of Sherlock. “It’s great,” he says, calling from the London set. “The second series was weird. Because it was such a phenomenal success, we were a bit distanced from the routine and the inhabiting of those characters. This season, straight into it, comfortable. And [the characters all] immediately fit under our skins. Really hard work because it wouldn’t be a good show unless we were trying to evolve it and set ourselves new challenges and standards. But I love it. I’m very fond of playing him. You’re in for a treat this series.” Undoubtedly. So could he give us a tease of what goodies await us?

“Ummmmm…no,” Cumberbatch says. “Nothing that’s worth my liver or whatever part of my body they’d remove if I said anything.”

Even when he’s off-duty, Mr. Holmes has a way of following him around. Jonny Lee Miller, star of CBS’ Elementary, was Cumberbatch’s co-star in Danny Boyle’s two-man Frankenstein play, which ran on the London stage in 2011. And Cumberbatch also once lived less than two blocks from Robert Downey Jr.’s Venice Beach office and was tempted to drop in as a surprise. “I’m not sure anyone needs that much Sherlock in one room,” he says. “I also don’t know if I can find his office. I’m not a detective.”

Big on Japan: ”I love to travel, and with Trek we all went to Tokyo. That was my first time — and it was a hell of a helter skelter way to be introduced to it, to be sure — but I was blown away. We had this hotel and the view was as if someone had just projected against this backdrop the Ridley Scott director’s cut version of Blade Runner with white lights and blinking red lights. It’s shockingly stunning and modern and it has that really wonderful aspect of modernity right up against ancient tradition.”

As for The Fifth Estate and what I’m sure will be a well-executed Oscar campaign (at least for Cumberbatch, I’m assuming), The Hollywood Reporter had a really interesting process piece on how WikiLeaks is trying to “sabotage” the promotion of TFE with Julian Assange making some very pointed statements about the film and how it is “a massive propaganda attack on WikiLeaks and the character of my staff.” When the first trailer was released, WikiLeaks Twitter tweeted: “Don’t be fooled. It implies that we gave Iran nukes and killed 2,000.” But Disney (who will be marketing this film very carefully) “isn’t concerned,” says THR. They’re hoping that because Assange is still very much in the news (he’s been making statements on behalf of Edward Snowden, who is probably being “debriefed” by FSB as we speak), that will end up helping The Fifth Estate. One insider told THR, “Not everyone knows about WikiLeaks, so this is good for us.”

YES. I tried 3 times yesterday to post this very thing and each time my comment disappeared within a few minutes (while no other comments disappeared in this thread). If you hated Benedict (really, his character) in Atonement then he was doing his job, because we’re SUPPOSED to hate him. HIs character is a predator and child rapist, and all around cad. Benedict is a master of detail and subtlety. There’s no one acting today–at least in his general age group–who can get into the psychological place of his character better than Benedict Cumberbatch. His looks are so secondary and actually his looks have served him well. Frankly, which actors who are perfectly gorgeous get taken seriously as artists? No one I can think of.

Remember how, way back before poor Batch was everywhere so we weren’t so exhausted, the lovely CB’s would hijack other threads to talk about him? And get into funny shanking wars that endeared me to this place?

Well hello. I am here to hijack this Benedict Cumberbatch thread. Because I want to talk about Mads Mickelson. And Billy Currington. And Aaron Roadgers. And whoever else is worth shanking over this week. Biscuits are on the table, gin and tonics on the bar. Get to it.

good lord you bitches ,thought i would be the only one “fondly”remembering tom,i wishhe had some proect worth oscar campaign,,Bronson should have released now insteadof back then when he was not sofamous ,he would have definetly scored one ,anyways i found this old interview of benny and tomhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5SbV8VQBvE

My understanding of Whishaw is that he’s neither in nor out of any closets, just is very private and not into starriness. If they’re not hiding, I don’t see why they need outing. Plus, I am a huge fan of his acting. He doesn’t court publicity and I think his work should be allowed to speak for itself.

@Sixer: It looks like Whishaw’s reps said something official due to “speculation” which, sadly, usually means they were told the story was going to run whether they agreed or not. As private as Whishaw tries to keep his life, and as vocal as he is about it, sucks that it came out like this instead of apparently on their own terms, though good job keeping it quiet for a year!

Oh please, I am so tired of hearing about the gays and their secrets. Every other week there’s a story. You’d think gays are being sent to gulags and work camps. Everybody has it tough for one reason another. If it’s not because you’re gay, it’s because you’re Black, and if it’s not because you’re Black it’s because you’re too skinny or too fat, and if it’s not your weight then it’s your religion, and if it’s not your religion then it’s your class or education or socio-economic place in society. We are all these things yet existing in a free society with laws to protect us. PLEASE. You know who’s brave? You know who deserves stories every week? The Egyptian people who are right now over-throwing their tyrannical government and fighting to establish a law of freedom in their country. Risking life and limb. Sorry, two guys making a commitment to each other IN A FREE SOCIETY is not brave. Furthermore, who didn’t know Whishaw is gay?? Every time a celebrity says “my orientation shouldn’t matter”, he’s gay. Every time. Please show me a straight man or woman who, when asked about their sexuality, replied “It doesn’t matter, I just want my privacy”. He is saying he’s gay and doesn’t choose to make a big deal of it. Kudos to him for that. Wish everyone else would stop making a big deal of it.

@Crumpets – exactly. I can understand the urge to out the people who enter into bearding contracts for PR purposes. If you play that game, you can’t complain if it/your own hypocrisy bites you in the bum. But that’s not the case here. I think it’s icky. I remember poor old Nigel Hawthorne being outed during the Oscars in the 90s. That was equally unpleasant.

@ sixer,totally agree,he is gorgeous,he is one of those men ,like matt bomer,whoose homosexuality has no effing effect on me,isee him as a beutiful actor,who doesnot pimp himself out with his relationship etc
ps: shouldnt have mentioned tom hardy,ladies are onto him like plague

I love Batch always and forever, I will never pass a post about him without digging in and fantasizing for an hour or so. Thanks awfully for continuing to post about him, Kaiser. Ahhh, those curls…be still, my heart!

While I am suffering a bit of the Batch overload, I am massively excited for new Sherlock. The teaser made me remember how much I love the show. And if I can talk about it somewhere that it can’t be tainted by the Tumbr nutjobs, which is just annoying and embarrassing for everyone involved, so much the better.

I just want to run up and give Molly a giant hug. She’s adorable.
Hopefully Watson’s moustache will fall off with the shock, but I’m finding that the more I watch the trailer, the more it’s growing on me …

Molly is strong. She’s stronger than all the rest, and her still waters run very deep. She is the figure of integrity and undying loyalty. She is compassionate, understanding, and forgiving. She’s the “everyman” of the show–not John Watson, not Mrs. Hudson, not Lestrade. That’s why I love her the best.

I would, too. I would love to see any angle at all in the direction of something more between Sherlock and Molly. But I have this feeling the writers are enjoying making this Sherlock sexually ambiguous/asexual/latent homosexual too much to make a storyline that is anywhere “normal” for him. And I sort of understand that Sherlock necessarily MUST stand on the outside of normalcy in order to keep this adaptation true to the original text as Conan Doyle created him. A haunted, eccentric, not altogether mentally healthy, and struggling with addiction. So I get that he can’t be turned into a romantic hero. But that’s why I think Molly is a good fit for Sherlock to TRY to express love and romantic feelings. Molly Girl is a bit of an odd bird herself.

I’m a big fan of Sherlock in any iteration so I’m pretty excited for series 3 of this version. The trailer, considering it has no actual *scenes* from S3 but was just clips, was pretty good, imho. SOme people are complaining on twitter to Gatiss and anyone else involved in the show how it’s “sooooo mean” and other bs b/c they “deserve” footage and that, frankly, is so annoying and just sickening, the “I deserve this” attitude regarding media, etc.

Long story short: WHOO! More Sherlock! It’s supposed to be released early 2014 in the States, depending on each area’s PBS affiliate schedule for Masterpiece Mystery.

Luckily, the “fans” on Tumblr/Twitter are not the majority. They are embarrassing, though, I agree. Most true fans of TV shows are people who aren’t Twittering and Tumblring and don’t have any emotional/mental investment in tee vee shows. Like me. I’ve never tweeted about a show IN MY LIFE and there have been some shows I was really crazy about. My biggest tee vee obsession was Lost and I never even posted in any online Lost forums. I think there are more fans of shows like me than like the other ones.

Apparently, some fans were tweeting Mark Gatiss and calling him a dick and such for “making them cry” (WTH?) and his husband took to twitter to tear these people a new one b/c Gatiss was getting seriously offended. I just keep telling myself that maybe these fans with no boundaries are teenagers who don’t know better (even though I know some must be adults.)

The fact that Mark Gatiss had to address this I find so….repugnant. This is what happens when emotionally stunted idiots have access to the internet. He then said that the footage IS from S3 and wasn’t a specially made trailer. Not that he should have had to do that, the immaturity and entitlement attitude is disgusting and those involved, no matter their age, should be ashamed.

Soery for ranting but ive been a huge fan of Gatiss for years. He didnt deserve immature nitwit fan girls abusing him because they thought it wasnt “new footage”. Yes he may be easily offended but thats no excuse. They’ve been more than patient even with the constant following of filming and posting of videos/pictures.

I doubt the Fail will leave poor Cumby alone going forward, not now they’ve been gifted an in.

Non-Brits may not be aware that this rag is agenda-driven, and one aspect of that agenda is being anti-BBC. They don’t like the licence fee (it’s about £150 a year/$225 and pays for the BBC. If you own a TV you have to buy a licence, regardless of whether or not you watch BBC programmes. It’s like a TV tax).

They’ll take potshots at anyone, but if it’s the star of a premier BBC production, then that’ll suit them best of all.

The irony that Sherlock actually turns a profit for the BBC and might even be keeping the licence fee down, is entirely lost on the Fail.

I expect further “Lothario” items if they can concoct them out of anything at all, however flimsy, and probably some “associations with skeevy Russian businessmen” stuff too.

He’s stunning! I’m not a huge fan of the Star Trek movies. And the kind of bore me. Plus I was annoyed that the villian of khan was so whitewashed. But even I love cumberbatch in that role. He just sends shivers up your spine.

I went to Star Trek because I was downtown with a few hours to kill. BC absolutely blew me out of my seat. He was completely riveting. When I got home I immediately went on iTunes and Amazon and looked for whatever else I could find. I’m currently working on Hawking, and I have Third Star on standby. I finished Sherlock a while back. That was the only thing I had seen him in. I had seen him in Atonement a few years ago but had forgotten him until someone mentioned it.

Thank you Kaiser for shutting up those who complain about overdose of Cumberbatch here. I hate some celebrities too but when they are covered…I don’t go on their post and write shit about them. I simply ignore their posts. Geez people love to pull Cumberbatch down.

OMG I love these pictures from the set, he looks so bloody handsome. I really hope he comes to TIFF as I will surely wanna meet him.

The teaser for Sherlock has got me more excited, I seriously can’t wait to see the episodes. Martin Freeman in moustache heheheh soo cute.

Haha you tell em kaiser. If they dont wanna read about the Batch then dont click. Its very simple. Its also funny how those who dont like it always make the most comments on his post, leading to his post having some of the most comments on this website.

There is just something about Mr. Cumberbatch that is very attractive. Some may say its only because of his acting that makes him “look good” but I disagree. There are alot of good actors out there who just dont appeal to people like some people do.

I think the fact that he does look “different” from everbody else makes him stand out. The only 2 people I think he looks similar to is Dennis Quaid & Bryan Singer.

He actually has good features…it’s just that they are so exaggerated. His eyes, in particular, are absolutely gorgeous and they really pop onscreen. And he has nice skin. Can’t say the same for acne-scarred Brad Pitt or perpetually sun-damaged George Clooney.

*clapping like a circus seal*
seriously, the range he displays just in one stare is amazing. While I’m waiting for the new season (no date established yet right?) I’ve started watching Elementary and I must say I quite enjoy Jonny Lee Miller’s version, with a slightly better writing he could be like the new House or sth over there. I love the fact that both Cumby and him alternated in a Frankenstein play not long ago!

I very much enjoy Elementary. I enjoy the relationship with Watson. In particular that the character is a woman and a sober coach which creates its own romantic barriers which I appreciate. Plus I love Lucy Liu.

I will forever love what they did with Moriarty. Inspired. The writing is actually better than I am used to for an American police procedural although it does fall into predictable American tv. Lol.

I haven’t gotten to Moriarty part, I’m watching it casually, but I did spoil it for myself a bit by checking out show’s info I too like relationship with Watson, it’s funny how it’s much less charged than in BBC’s version, Lucy Liu is great and looks awesome (girl does not age!), but I wish they give them a bit more depth, so many eps and so slowly ‘evolving’ if you know what I mean?

I like Elementary too. I must admit that first I was very skeptical, but was happy to find it surprisingly entertaining.
The actors have good chemistry, and like you said, they could just amp up the script a little to make it a bigger hit. Just be more daring with writing.

**

Sherlock teaser, what can I say?
JUST A BLOODY PERFECT TEASER !

But, Benedict, I’m watching you – No more fooling around with models – unless you want to be CB spanked again…

I’m only really interested in following Cumberbatch’s career so thanks celebitchy. There’s a lovely report from a waitress today who met Benedict and his parents. He was lovely to the girls serving him. A total sweetheart

I think it’s been well established I do love watching BC act but, tbh, I think Martin Freeman did an amazing job as Watson, esp during the Reichenbach Fall episode (I won’t be all tumblrish about the “feels” when he watched Sherlock fall but yeah, lol). I’m really excited to see how he portrays Watson’s reaction to Sherlock’s return.

Me too! In the story “The Empty House,” Watson’s reaction to Holmes’ return was more generous and forgiving than I expect Freeman’s Watson to be. Perhaps a bit of a scuffle (a punch in the face, at least!)? Then again, in the canon, Watson was alone, since Mary Morstan had already died, so I guess Conan Doyle had him ripe and ready for a renewed friendship. It will be interesting to see how Moffat and Gatiss handle it. Can’t wait!

Not only is Watson “proper British” he’s also an Army veteran. He served on the battlefield as a doctor, which means he saw horrible things every single day. He’s got PTSD, as has already been established. He is tightly wound, moody, sleep-deprived, likely bi-polar (PTSD), has nightmares, difficulty expressing emotions and feelings. Why anyone would expect him to cry is beyond me.

Just read the Daily Fail article – bit of a change of opinion from them, weren’t they touting him as a globe trotting lothario who was swapping between blondes and red heads as the fancy took, all while downing Crystal and watching topless women jiggle about? Now, he’s insecure, needy and cheap? Presumably someone else paid for the champers and jiggly women.

@E-V-E
Would like to hear your thoughts when you reach the Moriarty part of Elementary. I appreciate your ability to pace yourself. The internets have unlearned me of the habits of watching episodic tv. I seem only able to view in series of four to six. Perhaps that is partly why I enjoy British tv so much. Lol.

I mentioned last week that Katia’s behavior—both with the obvious set-up in Ibiza and then the subsequent “interview” she gave “outing” him as her unofficial “acting coach”—smacked of payback of some sort. I still believe that very much.

You think she had something to do with this article? There’s nothing new here, just rehashing of things we’ve heard before. She’s certainly an opportunist and beneath him in all sorts of ways (pun intended) but I think this is just the DM being the DM.

HOLY CRAP. Everyone is going to have a heart attack when they see him back from the dead. Well, maybe not Mycroft (although he might be a little gobsmacked) and definitely not Molly (no, Molly’s just going to get her heart broken again). But everyone else will keel over. Watson might even slap him.